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More Layoffs at St. Jude Medical Plant in Sylmar

St. Jude Medical Inc. has notified 114 employees at its Sylmar medical device manufacturing facility that their positions will be cut by the end of the year. This is the second round of layoffs ordered by St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Jude at its San Fernando Valley location as the company restructures itself amid slumping sales of its heart care products. The notifications were made this month. In August, St. Jude cut 57 employees on the third shift, including assembler, inspector, team coordinator and engineering positions. Another 42 positions were cut in October. The positions slated for elimination in December are inspectors, assemblers, clerks, managers and engineers. They are among 500 jobs St. Jude is eliminating companywide. After the cuts, the Sylmar facility, which makes implantable defibrillators and pacemakers, will have an employee base of more than 1,500 workers. St. Jude’s restructuring comes at a time when the medical device market faces challenges on multiple fronts: patients putting off medical procedures due to the economy, increased scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration and a 2.3 percent tax that is part of federal health care reform. The reorganization consolidated four operating units into two – the implantable electronic systems division, which will include the Sylmar location, and the cardiovascular and ablation technologies division. In October, St. Jude executives revealed the FDA was inspecting the Sylmar plant, an action that would likely result in a warning letter from the government agency over some problem at the facility.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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